New Soul
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1612: Santana and Brittany have traded in their thieving Trinity days for marriage, a daughter, and the culmination of a dream lost and returned. - Trinity series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 76th cycle. Now cycle 77!_

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**"New Soul"  
(Older (Quinn),) Brittany/Santana, Catalina (OC), Florence (OC)  
Trinity series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
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Their mornings at home had evolved over the months, just as their daughter had grown. She was still such a small thing, but going by the amount of clothes she'd outgrown, it was clear she wasn't nearly as small of a thing as she used to be. But then her growth wasn't exclusively in a physical form. Young Florence had gone and developed into a little person with traits that began to establish her, beyond the shadow of a doubt, as her mothers' daughter. She had a sort of curiosity about the world that was all Brittany, but then that curiosity was nestled within a flaring temper that was so Santana it hurt.

Now that she had settled in New York permanently, the better to be with her boyfriend, the care of baby Florence went into the hands of her aunt Catalina. Every morning before her sister and her sister-in-law went off to work, she would arrive to get her niece ready to go, the dutiful nanny. It came with pay, per Santana's insistence, and as jobs went, Catalina could not complain. This was something Santana would remind her whenever she was late… so she would be reminding her again that morning.

"I can always go in late, they'll understand," Brittany pointed out, all the while twisting her face comically to get her daughter laughing as she was scraping at what remained in the small breakfast bowl with the equally small spoon.

"No way, not going to happen, if anyone's going to be late, it'll be me. She's my sister, and I get to yell at her," Santana stood at the window like she was resisting the urge to pace.

"Don't yell at her," Brittany begged. "I'm sure there has to be a reason, right?"

"There always is," Santana frowned, then stood up straighter. "Oh, here she comes, this will be good." They waited until Catalina could make it up the elevator and down the hall. When she knocked, Santana already had her hand on the knob.

"I know what you're going to say, alright, save it," the younger Lopez breezed through the room, past her sister and to the blonde and the babe. "Hey, Ducky," she beamed, gently brushing at Florence's cheek when the girl brightened at the sight of her. "You know how to greet people, don't you, unlike some others who shall remain nameless," she crooned while Santana was glaring daggers from behind her. Brittany did her best to hide a smirk in her hand.

"So what are you going to do today?" she asked, to lighten the mood.

"Oh, you know, stroll to the park, maybe go to the pool, sing some songs, read a book, all that good stuff." As she spoke, her attention was entirely devoted to her niece, and this was usually the point where Santana's ire deflated. There was no denying that Catalina Lopez loved her niece fiercely, and she would care for her and protect her with that same fierceness. Still, Santana knew there were some things that could boil up along the way, not all of them as pleasant.

"You are not taking her to Winger's shop again."

"Why not?" Catalina frowned. Brittany flashed Santana a look.

It was so engrained in their lives sometimes that they didn't think about it anymore. But then they had to remember, Catalina still didn't know. She didn't know what the two of them and Quinn used to do, before their friend had died. She didn't know in what capacity they had first come to meet Winger, how he'd become part of their lives. Surely the guy was not a crook, not a psycho… He was not a danger, but his clientele might be. Their desire for Catalina not to take Florence to his shop was equal part trying to keep their daughter away from that potential danger and equal part doing the same for Catalina, too. The fact that, as her boyfriend, he had not once let slip the original nature of his relationship with the trio was one thing, but on top of everything else, they worried that, within the setting of the shop, the truth might slip out easier.

"Sharp objects, little objects, what if she tries to eat something or cuts herself," Brittany was quicker to find a valid response, and Santana would have kissed her right there for coming up with it.

"Exactly," she nodded, pointing to her wife.

"I would never let that happen…" Catalina started to say.

"Accidents happen," Santana cut in.

"… but if it's that important to you, then fine, I won't take her there," Catalina continued, frowning.

"Thank you," Santana tipped her head forward, touching her sister's shoulder. "Britt, you need to go, can't be late today."

"Right," she sprang to her feet, hurrying the bowl and spoon to the sink to rinse.

"Why, what's today?" Catalina asked, picking Florence up into her arms. Santana and Brittany looked to one another, smirking. "What, tell me!" Catalina begged, looking from one to another like she was trying to decide which one would crack easier. But then Brittany answered her question.

"The company has a new production coming up, and Sherry wants me to lead it."

"Okay?" Catalina didn't see what the big deal was, Brittany had been lead choreographer before.

"Lead performer, Tali," Santana clarified, and now they go the reaction they'd been waiting on.

"Brittany, that's amazing!" she hesitated for a moment, then passed Florence on to her sister before moving up to hug her sister-in-law.

"Yeah, we thought so, too," Santana beamed, absently rubbing at her daughter's back.

When Brittany had come home with the news two days ago, they'd practically been bouncing around holding hands they were so happy. Santana knew as well as Brittany how far they'd come, all the difficulties and obstacles that had been part of Brittany's journey in the dance world, including those years in between when there had been none of it. Now ever since they'd had Florence, it felt like the world was righting itself again. They were together, happy, married, mothers, Santana was doing well at the paper, and Brittany was back on top where she belonged as a dancer. The only thing missing, and this would always be the part that drew them down to earth, was Quinn. If she could ever have seen all this, then it would truly have been as perfect as could be.

THE END

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****A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
********always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!********


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